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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoSam Gangwer | Orange County Register photosBill Walter obtained a low-interest business loan from Whole Foods that helped him upgrade his beekeeping business.

Bees are Bill Walter’s business.

Walter removes swarms from homes, then tends the bees for their wildflower honey, which he sells
through his company, Guerilla Beekeepers, along with beeswax-based products such as lip balm and
body moisturizer.

Until 18 months ago, Walter oversaw his growing venture out of his home garage in Silverado
Canyon in southern California. But thanks to a $15,000 loan from Whole Foods Market, the former Web
designer was able to buy new gear, including additional beekeeper suits and hive boxes.

That financial help also made it possible for him to move to a larger space, a 2,400-square-foot
warehouse in Santa Ana, Calif. The loan was “that little extra kick” he needed, said Walter, 49. “
We wanted to expand, but we couldn’t do it without” the loan.

Walter is one of more than 150 independent business owners across the nation who have received
funding through Whole Foods’ program, which since 2007 has supported emerging companies that make
local products with loans ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.

The chain of natural- and organic-foods supermarkets has issued about $10 million in loans at
interest rates ranging from 5 to 9 percent, and recently committed to an additional $15 million in
funding. Loans issued in 2012, the most-recent year for which numbers were available, averaged a
little more than $50,000, and the average interest rate was 5.4 percent.

Whole Foods’ expansion of its loan program comes as traditional bank lending continues to
decline. The value of U.S. commercial loans of $1 million or less, considered a small-business
loan, was nearly $285 billion in the third quarter, based on the latest federal data on federally
insured banks. That’s a 13 percent drop from six years ago.

The average size of small-business loans backed by the government has increased over the years,
suggesting that fewer smaller businesses that want small-dollar loans are getting help.

In Orange County, Calif., for example, the average loan size has more than tripled to $527,000
since 2007, based on numbers for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s flagship 7(a) loan
program.

As with a regular bank loan, would-be borrowers must share with Whole Foods their financials,
such as annual revenue, and the intended use of the money during the application process, which
takes about two months.

Whole Foods’ loans are not exclusive to its vendors, but such a relationship is preferred, the
application says. What is required is collateral, which offsets some of the company’s risk.

“We already know what kind of supplier they are,” said Dwight Detter, a Whole Foods buyer whose
focus is southern California. “There is some track record so that we can help project with
them."